Como vana sombra

by Jane Hervey, Daniel de la Rubia Ortí (Translator)

Es conocida la afición de los británicos a hacer comedia de un entierro, pero, aunque esta novela cae sin duda dentro de esta categoría, es también algo más. El incidente inicial, la muerte del coronel Alfred Winthorpe, lejos de ser motivo de duelo, supone un verdadero alivio para su familia, pues con ella terminan largos años de violencia, tristeza y amargura. Nadie, sin embargo, parece dispuesto a admitirlo y todos siguen adelante con el ceremonial prescrito, guiados por un sentido del deber al que obedecen sin saber por qué. Ese deber moral nunca puesto en duda es el que ha regido el designio de esta familia, que ahora se obstina en cumplir con las expectativas sociales y rendir con decoro su último adiós a un hombre al que nunca quisieron.

Genres: Fiction, British Literature, Classics, Historical Fiction, Family, Historical

264 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Jane Hervey was born Naomi Blanche Thoburn McGaw in 1920. She grew up on a country estate in Sussex and was educated by her nanny at home and at a local girls’ school. She was ‘finished’ in Paris and was presented at court. After the outbreak of war she nursed for a while, then helped to write aircraft recognition books. In 1941 she was married, but then, after her husband was posted overseas, lived with Franklin Stuart Wilder; they married in 1948 and had a daughter in 1949. Vain Shadow was written in the early 1950s but remained unpublished until 1963; even then some members of her family were offended by the obvious portrayal of themselves and did not speak to her for several years. By this time she was happily married to Major George Bowlby and in 1956 and 1959 two children were born; the family lived in Derbyshire, and in Cookham Dene, before moving to Norfolk where, in the 1970s, they founded English Country Cottages.

Reviews

[Tania · Rating 5 out of 5]

The premise here, is a simple one, but no less effective for it. The book opens with the death of the patriarch of an upper-middle class family. The rest takes part over the next 4 days as the family gather to make arrangements, and attend the funeral.
It emerges that no-one is terribly upset about his death, he was a domineering man, a bit of a bully, and most of the family seem relieved and anxious about what they will get in the terms of the will. The servants on the other hand, do seem more upset than the family. The author shows us not only what the family are saying, but what they are thinking, too. Mostly, not the same things at all. It is a darkly comic book.
Apparently a lot of the characters in this story were thinly disguised members of her own family, who didn't speak to her for years after the book was published.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This very funny black comedy written in the 1950's but not published until 1963 is brilliant.
The book is set over four days in four chapters in a large country house after the death of Mr Winthorpe.All the family gathers to arrange the funeral.
The truth being that no-one really liked the Colonel and everyone just wants to get the funeral over with, so the will can be read !
The author who is really named Naomi Blanche Thoburn McGaw ( born 1920) based this on her real family who didn't speak to her for years after.Would of been lovely too if her other books had of been published.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘Vain Shadow’ was Jane Hervey’s first novel; written in the 1950s but put away and not published until 1963, and now reissued as a Persephone book.

It tells a very simple story; the story of an English family in the middle of the twentieth century, the kind of family that had a country house, a small staff, tenants on its estate, over the four days between the death and the funeral of its patriarch.

It’s simple, but it is special because it is so very well executed.

There are just four chapters – one for each of those four days – observing the widow, the adult children, and the one adult grandchild – daughter of a daughter who had died – and their spouses as they do the things that must be done in that particular period, and begin to come to terms with what the death will mean.

The bereaved family is more concerned with that than with grief for the dead Colonel Winthorpe. When his nurse, preparing to take her leave, stops to rest on ‘his’ chair they react to that as an inappropriate act without the slightest emotional reaction to the fact that he will never sit there again. The picture that they paint of him is the picture of a tyrant, a man who bends his family to his will, and takes pleasure in doing so.

This is not a happy family; it’s a family that has walked through life as it walks through these four days; following the rituals, observing the proprieties, but never sharing their feelings and never ever talking about the things that really matter.

It was interesting to observe that his staff and his tenants felt the loss much more, and dealt with the things that they knew should be done so much better that the family. They gave willingly to a collection for a wreath; and the time that they came to the house, to walk past the coffin and to pay their respects was the most moving in the whole story.

It also gave more depth to the picture that Jane Hervey painted of the family.

She is an incredibly perceptive writer; drawing each character, and each relationship, clearly, distinctively and believably. She is particularly good at sibling rivalries, and the position of those who have married into the family. And she has a wonderful eye – and ear – for a telling detail. The son sending back his breakfast egg, because it is not exactly how he likes it. The widow’s repeated murmur that now she could have the peach bathroom she had always wanted. The housekeeper sailing off erect on her bike, to tell that tenants on the estate everything that they needed to know. Choice possessions being shared out to save a little on death duties.

She moved skilfully between each and every member of the family, missing nothing of any importance. Even more skilfully, she moves between observation of the characters and their individual streams of consciousness, and she makes it feel entirely natural and right.

The widow and the granddaughter were at the centre of the story. One felt her life was over, that it was too late for her to change. The other felt that she had to make a change, that it was time for her to live that life that she wanted.

There were times I might have laughed and there were times I might have cried, but I did neither. Because Jane Hervey walked the line between those two things so very, very well, and because this story, this family, this situation, felt so horribly, utterly real.

I read that this story is – at least in part – drawn from life, and I don’t doubt that for a moment.

It’s not an easy book to love, but it is a very fine piece of writing, it is utterly compelling, and it has left words and images in my head.

I hope – and I think I believe – that Jane Hervey was the young woman who saw a chance to change her life, and I hope she seized that chance.

[Sub_zero · Rating 3 out of 5]

Como vana sombra ha sido una lectura fantástica. Directa, compacta y sin artificios, la novela de Jane Hervey es una deliciosa intromisión en las vidas de una familia que se ve sacudida por la muerte del patriarca. Más temido que amado, la figura del coronel Alfred Winthorpe se abalanza sobre sus descendientes aun después de fallecer, ocupando los pensamientos de una esposa que siente que ha desperdiciado su vida, tres hijos que ven confirmados o denegados los afectos del padre a través de una sorprendente herencia y una nieta sumida en una crisis matrimonial para la que podría encontrar solución durante los preparativos del funeral. Con una sagacidad y economía de medios francamente pasmosa, Hervey disecciona en esta entretenida novela los convencionalismos de la alta sociedad inglesa, tan afectada y preocupada por las apariencias que no es capaz de identificar a los monstruos que se esconden tras las máscaras.

[Rosemary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Affecting and often funny story of a mildly dysfunctional family dealing with the death of the tyrannical head of the family. His elderly wife sees freedom within her grasp, only to realize that her son will dominate her as easily as her husband did. The sons combine jealousy of each other with affection in a scarily realistic way. The granddaughter tries to escape the situation that trapped her grandmother, as she faces up to her own manipulative husband.

I loved the slow simplicity of the language and the shifting points of view.

[Claire Fuller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a wonderful read, full of great (and horrible) characters, an English country house (which I always love), and a funeral. The point of view is odd but it works. It moves quickly between three brothers, their mother, their niece, and her husband. And as each of them speak we also hear their most private thoughts, which are often the complete opposite of what they are saying.
It's a story of class and etiquette in the 1950s, and often the ways the men treat the women (and some of the women allow themselves to be treated) made me very cross, but made me love the book even more.

[Kirsty · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 112th book on the marvellous Persephone list, and one of the new additions for Spring 2015, is Jane Hervey’s only published novel, Vain Shadow. Hervey wrote it during the 1950s and stored it away in a drawer for a decade; it was not until 1963 that the novel, which is centered around ‘the portrait of a family funeral and its repercussions’, was published. Even then, the ‘obvious portrayal’ of some of Hervey’s family members within Vain Shadow offended them, to the extent that they did not speak to her for years.

Celia Robertson’s preface to the volume has been wonderfully written and thoughtfully constructed. Robertson writes that ‘as a needle on the historical compass of the previous decade, it quivers with the anticipation of change, poised at the very end of what had gone before’, and that Hervey’s ‘take on a death in the family is unique, astute and very funny’. She goes on to say that Vain Shadow is quietly successful… It shows us – in the most undramatic but knowing way – how tyranny and casual violence exist in the most civilised of settings; how far – legally, at least – women have come since the 1950s, and how death remains impossible to get right’.

The structure of Vain Shadow is fitting; Hervey has split it into four parts, each of which corresponds to a particular day. ‘The weight of the novel’, writes Robertson, ‘lies in the relationships between the old man’s surviving wife and adult children as they begin to realise what his death will mean’. Other themes come across strongly too, particularly with regard to class – the hired staff seem to be far more in control of the situation than the Winthorpe family themselves – and the position of women. The omniscient perspective has been marvellously utilised, as have the stream-of-consciousness thoughts of each character, which unfold simultaneously alongside the action. Mrs Winthorpe, the deceased Colonel’s widow, rejoices, for instance, that after fifty-three years, she will no longer have to kiss him. She then busies herself playing a secretive game of patience just an hour after she has been informed of his death. Her one wish, which is mentioned several times within the story, is to finally have the peach bathroom which she has, up until now, been denied.

One gets a feel for Vain Shadow's characters almost as immediately as they are introduced, as well as of their dreams, desires, and darkest thoughts. Different characters who inhabit different corners of the house as the story goes on are followed; we learn about how they walk, how they stand their ground in a given disagreement, and how they view their own positions within the realm of the family. In the novel, Hervey presents herself as the family’s granddaughter, Joanna, whom Robertson believes is ‘the one character who reveals a capacity for love’. Every person within Vain Shadow‘s pages is flawed in some way, be it within their character, or their negative thoughts of others. This makes it most refreshing to read.

Whilst we never meet the Colonel himself, we learn a lot about him; he comes across as a tyrant, cruel and standoffish, and belligerent, and it is clear why the majority of his family were frightened of him. He is cleverly ever-present – whilst discussing funeral arrangements, for instance, ‘It was just as though Grandfather was still there, perhaps always would be there, somewhere… waiting to pounce’.

Throughout, Hervey also exemplifies how one’s outer facade rarely reflects their innermost feelings and persona; all of the protagonists here are very focused upon fitting in and appearing to behave properly in any given situation, despite the anguish they invariably feel within. Over breakfast, for instance, ‘They all paused to regard, through Nurse’s eyes, the old man whom alive they had known fierce, intolerant, ever-battling, consecrated now in dying, humble and saintly. Which was the true man; which the shadow?’ The protagonists’ preoccupations with the trivial also come to the fore – Jack, worried about balding; a moment of shared thought about how much the Colonel disliked competition; Harry’s egg not quite cooked to his liking. These thoughts can sometimes overshadow the bigger picture for them all; they continually have to remind one another of the reason as to why they have been brought together, and of the sadness which they should be feeling. The hierarchy within the family shows itself too, particularly with regard to the sons. Brian, who lives nearby, flits in and out of the action, believing himself head and shoulders above his brothers: he ‘looked down on them all from the height of his superior knowledge. They really knew very little about Father’.

The Derbyshire setting has been well evoked, and a dark edge is occasionally introduced to the whole: ‘The house, built three hundred years ago, of stone and slate, stood halfway up a hill, facing undisturbed the fierce gales that from time to time attacked it from the valley, battering at its windows and tearing at the old wisteria which twisted across the front of it like a long, grey snake’.

Vain Shadow is so engaging. Rather than just an overseer, it feels as though the reader is an intrinsic being within the family; we are brought into the thick of conversations, and bouts of important decision-making. Hervey is an incredibly perceptive author; there are swathes of realism here, particularly with regard to the complex familial relationship which exists for the Winthorpe clan. Sharp, surprising and so well written, Vain Shadow is a most fitting addition to the Persephone list. One can only hope that more of Hervey’s work will be published soon.

[Wendy Greenberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Behaviour around death often demonstrates the worst in people, sometimes the best, but not in this case. The novel covers a four day kaleidoscope of a 1950s landowner's death and dispatch, putting the character and action of family and staff under scrutiny.

The top dressing is of a much loved, admired patriarch, the sub-soil is of a blustering bully controlling his family through threats of disinheritance and a tyrannical ruling of the roost. He dies at the start of the book at home, 2.30am, with a nurse at his side. The family were not sitting with him and had not asked to be woken which becomes the template for the family dynamic we watch playing out.

The men are so concerned to do what is "proper" and in what timeframe that they do not even consider sparing even a moment for any emotional response, focusing, instead on complete trivia. The author captures this perfectly with humour in the detail. The release felt by the widow as she finds a suitable black hat and is buoyed up by the notion that, at last, she can have a peach coloured bath! The fraternal sibling rivalries as they jostle for position and weigh up their futures (and wealth) and argue about the right receptacle for cremated remains. The granddaughter making decisions to escape a marriage of coercive control, not unlike her grandparents.

However it is the assumptions about the place of women and how it was restricted and managed by men, elders (and betters) that is the most telling - how they live their lives affecting the family name. It is certainly a period piece which felt as if drawn from the bitterness of a witness.

[Bel Hernández · Rating 4 out of 5]

Que retrato más divino! Una lectura deliciosa, una historia simple contada de una forma excepcional. Personajes odiables que no podés dejar de leer. Recomendadísima!

[Ginni · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wealthy upper-middle class family gather at the imposing family home on a large country estate in Derbyshire, England; the occasion, the death and funeral of the patriarch. This novel is a period piece in its setting and attitudes, but also hilariously accurate in its depiction of a family and household drawn together to bid farewell to the father, husband, grandfather who was feared rather than loved. Everyone tries very hard to do the right thing and express the correct sentiments, but the author also allows us access to their private thoughts and emotions, which run counter to their external attitudes. This often gives rise to accurate black comedy when the banal internal thoughts are so different from the conventions of grief and mourning.

The novel was written in the early 1950s, but curiously, I don’t remember the Second World War being mentioned in the book. The house is very much of the Agatha Christie era; everyone smokes like a chimney, and the conventions of afternoon tea, kippers for breakfast, the housekeeper bringing everyone a tea tray first thing in the morning...yet one has the sense of an era ending, as when the housekeeper, known only as Upjohn, mourns the fact that they now only have a ‘daily’ - the cleaner who comes in every day, rather than the four live-in housemaids there used to be. Small details like this could place the timing of the novel more accurately to a social historian. Upjohn collects money for a wreath from the staff, which include a gardener, a bailiff and a gamekeeper - another indicator of status and wealth.
I very much enjoyed this, Jane Hervey’s main work; another example of ‘the novel rejected and put away in a drawer’ story that seems a frequent occurrence. As well as the Agatha Christie setting, the wit and humour reminded me of Barbara Pym, one of my all-time favourites in skewering the social conventions and class obsessions of English society. Published by Persephone, excellent.

[Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story in Vain Shadow is simple enough – a wealthy family gather at their country estate in Derbyshire following the death of the patriarch. Over a period of four days they mourn him, arrange his funeral and read his will. Here Hervey shows how well she understands families; there is black humour and astute observation in her portrayal of a family living in the midst of death. Mrs Winthorpe is informed of her husband’s death over night by Upjohn the housekeeper, the only member of the household to shed a tear. Mrs Winthorpe had been living in thrall to her husband for fifty-three years; she sits up in bed the morning of her husband’s death playing patience as the news is imparted to other members of the family.

Full review: https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2015/...

[Mika_books_ · Rating 4 out of 5]

♡Reseña: Sombra vana. ♡Autora: Jane Hervey. ♡Páginas: 270. ♡Gracias a: @labestiaequilatera_editorial

¿Sabían que por escribir esta historia todos los familiares de la autora le dejaron de hablar y le negaron el saludo? Se veían así mismos reflejados en los personajes...

Nuestra historia comienza en Derbyshire, donde una familia se reune por la esperada (y ansiada) muerte de Alfred Winthorpe; esposo de la señora Winthorpe, padre de Jack, Harry, Brian y abuelo de Joanna.
La autora nos relata como el difunto al haber sido en vida un ser perjudicial para los demás, insoportable y temible (especialmente para su propia familia), todos ahora lo ven como un estorbo, al punto de que mientras él moría en una habitación de la casa acompañado por una enfermera, se le pidió a su cuidadora que si llegara a fallecer a altas horas de la noche/madrugada, no los avisaran ni molestaran, sino al día siguiente.
Alfred Winthorpe, era un individuo temido, tanto que su propia nieta al querer escapar de él, terminó casándose con alguien muy parecido a su abuelo. Se fue de Guatemala y terminó en «Guatepeor». También doblegó a su esposa, la denigro, hasta que finalmente ya no tuvo fuerzas ni para volar y cuando quedó libre...era demasiado tarde.
Y a sus hijos varones los moldeo a su figura, si lo desobedecian los amenazaba constantemente; los doblegó a su voluntad.
Como verán, éste hombre arruinó la vida de toda su familia y a la hora de su muerte nadie lo lloró...
¿Podrán ser libres ahora que ha muerto ese ser despreciable o ya es demasiado tarde? .
Es la primera vez que leo a la autora y definitivamente me gusta su estilo, porque incomoda y porque muestra una visión ajena a un simple funeral donde los personajes lloran y extrañan a un muerto con una idealizada vida ejemplar; es realista...

[JacquiWine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The British writer Jane Hervey wrote the bulk of Vain Shadow – a sharply-observed portrait of a wealthy English family at a time of mourning – in the early fifties. The draft novel then lay in a drawer for ten years before being polished up by Jane and submitted to Gollancz for publication – the book itself came out in 1963. Now it is available again for a whole new generation of readers to enjoy courtesy of this Persephone edition published in 2015.

The narrative arc is a relatively straightforward one – that said, it is not without its small moments of drama. In essence, the Winthorpes gather together at their Derbyshire country estate following the death of the Colonel – the head of the family – from an unspecified but not unexpected illness. Over the four days that follow, members of this family work through the ramifications of the Colonel’s passing, make arrangements for his funeral and debate the contents of his will. Hervey maps out her story in four clearly delineated sections, each one covering a particular day and the events contained therein.

Full review here:

https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2018...

[Toast · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a very sharp, Evelyn Waugh style waspish comedy about a 1950s family following the death of the Father, who wasn't very much liked and who ruled them all with a rod of iron and who still rules them even in his death. Very much of day, a real period piece of how to 'do' death well.
I got started with this very English Comedy of Manners but....
as I lost my dear old Dad just 3 months ago found I couldn't read on. Silly really but the timing is wrong I guess. Its still too raw for me. Not that I want a peach bathroom or anything like that God no! But its too early for me to be to whimsical, if that's the right word.
So sorry Persphone Books Group, I'll have to take a flyer on this month's book unless I buck up and get it read that is.
Toast

[Finn Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps ever so slightly too relatable to find Vain Shadow as "very funny" as its reviews had me hoping.

Still, Hervey maintains an amusing tone while laying bare the more excruciating aspects of a certain English approach all things death, grief, familial relationships and money. All of which are displayed in their extremes by a small cast of the decaying upper-class in the twentieth-century.

There's more to the book but I don't want to write long reviews.

[Elena Álvarez · Rating 4 out of 5]

«Alisó la tierra como si fuera un edredón sobre alguien dormido: delicadamente, para no despertarlo. Tierra a la tierra, cenizas a las cenizas, polvo al polvo. Que duermas bien, padre.»

Publicada originalmente en 1963, es una de las novelas más feministas que he leído en mucho tiempo.

[Lara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una novela dividida en cuatro días, cuatro días de emociones encontradas. La muerte del patriarca, y la organización del funeral, lleva a la familia a navegar en sus pensamientos y abrir viejas (y nuevas) heridas.
Y cuando toda la procesión termina, algunos encuentran esa sensación de libertad y liberación de viejas cadenas.

Les comparto un pedacito del libro que destaqué (y anoté en esas hojas que, los que me ven leer en el trabajo, en casa, o en algún bar, llevo conmigo)

"Te muestras cómo fuiste, eres y serás. Es tu verdadero yo, desenmascarado. (...) Querías quebrarme, volverme totalmente insegura de mí misma y controlarme (...) ¿Y sabes qué? ¡Casi lo logras! ¡Felicítate! Realmente me convenciste de que era vaga, estúpida, ineficiente, descuidada… y yo traté muchísimo de hacer todo mejor para estar a tu altura. ¡A tu altura! ¡Qué risa! (...) Tenía que salir por mí misma; y tú me ayudaste. Fuiste demasiado lejos. (...) ¿Sabes? Estaba muy bien eso de repetirme que era ineficiente, podría haber funcionado; de hecho funcionó. (...) Y tal vez nunca me habría dado cuenta de que algo tan perfecto por arriba pudiera estar tan podrido por debajo."

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very inconsistent book. There are passages that are extremely moving and bits that are clever and intriguing but then there are pages and pages where you start wondering if you should put the book down. I found it ultimately worth it to finish it (it is not that long of a read) but I'm not willing to recommend this title.
This would have made an excellent short story and would've packed a lot more punch.

[Rose Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a wonderful writer and what a well-done book! I'm so sorry that this is her only published novel! I have heard that she has another novel, written after this one, squirreled away somewhere, as well as short stories! As of this writing, the author is still alive, so perhaps we can persuade her to publish those!

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely charming story of a wealthy British family that begins with the death of their patriarch. The family is extremely caught up in the business of the cremation, funeral, and will to even think about mourning the father (whom will not be missed...) Laugh out loud funny.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brilliant novel about the shifting boundaries between classes, sexes, generations and traditions, in late 1950's Great Britain. I really enjoyed it.

[Xiti L · Rating 4 out of 5]

Esta novela ha sido un espectáculo, me pareció bastante entretenida, especialmente porque cuenta las vueltas que da la familia para tomar una decisión, que en otras historias hubieran obviado, pero que aquí resulta trascendental, como qué flores elegir, serán mejor azucenas o rosas, cuáles autos se usaran para la marcha fúnebre, entre otras.
La figura del padre autoritario es bastante visible aquí y a pesar de que este haya muerto, aún están dominados por el fantasma de lo que había sido: me quiero sentar en su silla, pero aún es pronto, su gato viene a la cena como todas las noches lo hizo y así

La tensión entre los hermanos sobre lo que "deberían" hacer, de acuerdo a las costumbres, los sume en una batalla de autoridad, por un lado, está el mayor, Jack, quien, según la tradición, no se comporta como tal, es bohemio, pintor, se casó con una actriz mucho más joven que él. Su padre no estaba de acuerdo con su estilo de vida y amenazó con no dejarle nada de su herencia. Jack tiene micro enfrentamientos con sus dos hermanos menores, pues estos sí cumplieron los deseos del padre, tener una vida según rige el estatus de ellos.
Harry, el que sigue, no está casado y vive en la casa de sus padres, administra la finca de estos y es quien quiere mantener la autoridad de la casa, incluso con su madre, al punto de tratarla de forma humillante como su padre lo hacía. Casi todo el tiempo piensa en lo estúpidos que son sus hermanos, lo lenta que es su madre y le preocupa mucho su sobrina, a la que iguala a una mujerzuela.
Brian es el menor de los hijos, casado y con un negocio propio, vive fuera de la casa, también se impone ante sus hermanos mayores, recalcando los deseos de su padre, tal como que la noche anterior a su muerte le dijera su deseo de ser incinerado. Esto Harry lo desconocía y estaba planeando un entierro, así que al enterarse, por boca de Brian, el cambio de planes del viejo le sienta pesadísimo no saber él eso, cuando es quien vive en la casa familiar.
Joanna es la nieta, es hija de Sylvia, ella muere y su hija se convierte en el reemplazo de la difunta. Todos en la familia a veces la llaman Sylvia. Ella creció con miedo al abuelo, a su padre, ya que fue criada como su hija, creció con el estigma de que podría hacer lo mismo que su madre, de casarse con un hombre inadecuado para su situación, es por esto que es persuadida de casarse con Tony, un hombre al que Joanna después de casarse, conoce su verdadera cara. Tony quiere volverla nada, con violencia psicológica le hace ver que todo lo que hace es malo y que es una buena para nada. Pudo haberlo logrado, pero Joanna conoce a Andrew, su amante del que sus tíos se enteran por medio de Tony, es por esto que Harry piensa en lo zorra que es su sobrina y que debe mantener ese matrimonio por el bien de la familia y no dañar la reputación.

Una vez todos en la casa, Joanna se aleja de su esposo, inicia el proceso de alejarse del hombre que la lastima al ver como su abuela, a pesar de la muerte de Padre (como lo llaman todos) no está descansada, es como si ya no quedara nada de sí misma y Joanna no quiere llegar a ese punto. Su abuela resultó ser también un impulso para salir de esa situación.

Es una historia interesante, es muy entretenida, me encantó la tensión en ese ambiente familiar en el que en algunas partes podremos llegar a sentirnos identificados. La recomiendo mucho

[Roger Pettit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Persephone Books has come up trumps yet again! I have never read anything from their catalogue that is less than good and ‘Vain Shadow’ doesn’t buck that trend. Indeed, it’s rather better than just good. It’s one of those seemingly slight but excellent novels that might otherwise have remained in neglect were it not for the very sensible decision by the publisher to rescue it from oblivion. Written in the 1950s (there is apparently an autobiographical edge to it) and published in 1963, it’s a perceptive, stylish and credible comedy of manners that deserves to be widely read. Set in June 1961, it features the reaction of immediate family members to the death (at the age of 82) of Colonel Alfred Winthorpe, the stern, bullying patriarch of a slightly dysfunctional upper middle class family who live in the Derbyshire countryside. Most of the action takes place at the family pile, Otterley Hall, a large house with servants that is the headquarters of a seemingly thriving country estate. The story takes place over the three days after the Colonel’s death and focuses on the responses of family members to their varying degrees of personal grief; their interactions with each other; their innermost thoughts about each other; and their sniping. They fret about whether they should have sat by the Colonel’s bedside on the night that he died (despite the fact that his death was not unexpected, none had done so); the arrangements for the funeral; and the coming reading of the deceased’s will. None of that sounds particularly original or exciting - and it’s not. The brilliance of ‘Vain Shadow’ - and it is unquestionably a superb novel - lies in its realistic characterisation, believable dialogue, subtle humour and psychological depth. Jane Hervey (an author hitherto unknown to me) writes in a simple, unfussy, very readable style. I turned the pages rapidly, eager to know what was going to happen next. Like some other novels of superficially modest aims and stature (those of Barbara Pym, my favourite writer, spring to mind) ‘Vain Shadow’ is deceptive. Beneath its unpretentious exterior lurks a subtle, but actually quite radical, feminist streak. Several of the female characters successfully assert their independence from the stuffy male-oriented world of the post-war landed gentry. Few of the characters are immediately likeable but the author skilfully garners our sympathy for many of them, despite their often absurd and manipulative behaviour. We see aspects of ourselves in their selfishness and waywardness. ‘Vain Shadow’ is a novel of quiet brilliance. I loved it.

[Thea · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sprightly, wryly comedic, surprisingly progressive (for the era) novel. Vain Shadow follows a family in the immediate aftermath of the death of their miserable patriarch, by all accounts an absolute shitbag of a person. Poor Mrs. Winthorpe, spending some 50 years married to that man. But even then, he wasn't a caricature even in his absence. Both monstrous to his wife, yet oddly pleasant enough to Jack's too young wife, Laurine, of whom Alfred deeply disapproved. Poor Laurine, a 25 year old woman married to a 50 year old man. He's at least less unlikeable than Harry, cut from the exact same cloth as his father, stepping right into the footsteps of his father to control and belittle his mother.

It's a short book, adroitly capturing the three brothers, two wives, the widow, and Joanna and her caddish husband. The brothers barely tolerate each other, each getting jibes in wherever they can to see who can come out on top. How tedious to be men in your 40s and 50s and still trying to be the top dog! And Joanna, what a fascinating portrayal of a young woman in 1950s Britain, a time not exactly known for considering women's rights, and written contemporaneously but published 13 years later. Her fate -- one hopes that she is able to escape that of her grandmother.

Overall, a surprisingly fun read, and it's slightly bananas that I picked it up almost 8 years ago when Persephone Books was still in London.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the story about a wealthy family following the death of the patriarch, including the widow, three brothers and two of their wives, and a granddaughter, who is the granddaughter of the deceased, whose mother died young.
There is a lot of dialogue and interaction but not very much reflection or building of background. It sometimes reads like a play. The characters are interesting but not well developed. The reader is led most deeply (which isn't very deeply) into the lives of Joanna, the granddaughter, who is in an unhappy marriage, and Jack, the eldest son of the deceased, who earned disfavor by marrying an actress.
The story seemed a bit scattered to me, but in the end it maneuvers to be about Joanna, even though I felt she wasn't consistently the focus of the story.

[Antonio Navarro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una novela sobre un funeral, 4 días, y más pensamientos que diálogos.
Es una novela interesante, lleno de personajes con una opinión de cada una sobre la vida del otro. Creo que el plot está claro sobre el funeral, sin embargo, hay tanto pasando entre medio que encontré más interesante que la familia de la autora le haya dejado de hablar porque encontraron que los personajes tenían demasiadas similitudes con ellos, que la historia de la novela en si. Sin embargo, mi calificación es netamente porque entre los 3 hermanos y la madre, vi reflejadas muchas cosas. Quizás no es que los personajes se parezcan a la familia de la autora, quizás fue capaz de retratar lo que en verdad pasa en muchas familias.

[A J HOOPER · Rating 4 out of 5]

Basically a story about a funeral. The gloomy oppressive head of the house has died, leaving a brow beaten widow, three sons who are all damaged by the old man and a granddaughter who has been putting up with marriage to a man who consistently belittles her. Central to the story is the Will: who gets what and which members of the family ought to control it.
The story, published in 1963, catches the tail-end of the time when men sought to control women. Joanna, the granddaughter, gives hope for the choices women might make. But you receive some pretty unpleasant descriptions as to just how stifling marriage could turn out to be.

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite the book I had expected to read. I chose a book from Persephone's 'humour' section, however this novel was rather lacking in anything like the sparkling wit one might hope for in a Persephone read, indeed it felt a bit miserable in places. That said, it is a good book - a well-written and concisely told story, with some interesting characters and sub-plots. I would recommend it as a novel exploring upper class family relationships, and especially female experience of marriage in the twentieth century.

[Amber Whitaker · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 An easy, interesting read. Started off with immediate action and kept me interested and wondering how everything would end up. Enjoyed seeing the difference between what people were saying and what they were really thinking or feeling. Especially toward the end there was a tension and I was worried about what would happen with Joanna. And then I had a lot of unanswered questions. Overall, insightful about how people handle death and family relationships.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who would think that a novel written in the 1950s and not published until 1963 could so accurately portray, with such accuracy, coercive control and gaslighting of a young wife at its centre? We often think of this as a fairly modern form of abuse but clearly not. Jane Hervey's partly autobiographical novel describing a wealthy family dealing with the emotions and business of the patriarch's death could have been written yesterday.